An AET file is primarily an Adobe After Effects template project, functioning as a reusable starter setup similar to an AEP but meant to be opened repeatedly without overwriting the original, so After Effects treats it like a master you open and then save as a new project, containing the full “recipe” for the animation—comps, timelines, layer stacks, keyframes, effects, expressions, cameras/lights, render settings, and organizational elements like folders and interpretations.
An AET typically doesn’t pack in the raw media; instead it references external clips, graphics, and audio, which is why these templates are usually distributed as a ZIP with a Footage/assets directory and why After Effects may prompt for missing files if anything was not included, and because AETs may rely on specific fonts or third-party plugins, opening one on a new computer can lead to font substitutions until the required items are added, while remembering that file extensions aren’t exclusive, so the safest way to confirm the correct app is checking “Opens with” or considering where the file originated.
An AEP file is the editable AE project you save and revise, holding all your comps, effects, and imported media, whereas an AET is intended as a template, meaning you reopen an AEP to keep editing but open an AET to launch a new project so you don’t overwrite the template.
That’s why AET files are popular for motion-graphics template packs like intros, lower-thirds, and slideshows: the creator preserves the AET as the untouched master and you open it only to Save As a separate AEP for each new video, replacing text, images, colors, and logos, and even though both AET and AEP hold the same kinds of data—comps, layers, keyframes, effects, expressions, cameras/lights, and settings—and both normally reference external media, the AET’s job is to safeguard the template while the AEP becomes the project you actively modify.
If you have any queries regarding the place and how to use easy AET file viewer, you can speak to us at our page. An AET file is meant to store the framework and behavior of a motion-graphics project rather than the footage itself, offering compositions with resolution, frame rate, duration, and nesting, and keeping the entire timeline of text, shape, solid, adjustment, and precomp layers, with properties such as position, scale, rotation, opacity, masks, mattes, blending modes, parenting, and all animation elements including keyframes, easing curves, markers, and optional expressions.
In addition, the template captures all effects and their configured values—whether color correction, blurs, glows, distortions, or transitions—plus any 3D setup involving cameras, lights, and 3D layer controls, along with render/preview preferences and project-level organization such as folders, labels, and interpretation rules, but it usually avoids bundling actual footage, audio, fonts, or plugins, relying instead on linked paths that can produce missing-asset or missing-effect warnings on another machine.
